Defining Dance Tunnel: comm•une

Descending into the single room sweatbox that is Dance Tunnel for the very last time will be a sobering experience. Between the in-house Dance Tunnel Presentsseries and regular promoters, the Dalston venue could always be relied upon for impeccable programming throughout the year. Thursday nights provided sub-heavy frequencies courtesy of the iconic FWD>> parties, while Friday and Saturday would see some of the world’s most revered selectors enter the Tunnel. Due to close its doors next month, it’s also the latest casualty in an ongoing battle with local councils and London’s increasingly oppressive licensing climate.

With it’s impending closure, we’re calling on some of those regulars who have called Dance Tunnel home to pay homage with a playlist of tracks that defined their respective residencies. Kicking things off with a potent selection from the Way Back Here guys last month, our second instalment sees the comm•une gang take the helm. Steering us through the myriad of sonic treats are residents Noah Hope, Billson, Synamatix and James Rice, delivering a list that meets our lofty expectations after three years spent booking the likes of Ptaki, Nummer, Raw M.T., Kasra V, Minor Science, Seven Davis Jr and Hodge.

You can catch comm•une on Balamiifrom 5-7pm every first Friday of the month and keep up to date with all their goings on at mmune.co.

1. Sade – Cherry Pie

I love this woman nearly as much as my Mum. This jam has accompanied many an early doors warm-up shift.

2. Floorplan – Never Grow Old (Re-Plant)

Our boy Giorgio aka Raw MT absolutely hammered the Dance Tunnel when he played for us last year – his favourite club in the world! A memory that will stay with me for the rest of my life: witnessing a guy full-on head butt the DJ booth like a territorial ram as he mixed the above track into Liaisons Dangereuses. It may have been the guy screaming in this video.

3. Rachel – Okada

The first time I heard this was half way through Hodge’s set at one of the early comm•une parties down at Dance Tunnel. It must have been late 2013. The club was going mental and I remember walking straight up to him and saying “What the fuck is this?!” He just smiled and handed me a test press. It’s completely unmarked so I didn’t know what it was for quite a while but it got a lot of rotation.

4. Fat Freddy’s Drop – The Big BW (Zulu 122 Edit)

This ones an old favourite of mine and seems to always surface at some point when I’m playing comm•une. It’s just got the right vibe throughout and for me it kinda sums up the atmosphere in our audience.

5. A Denis Sulta track. Probably A.A.S. (Nite & Day Mix)

Denis Sulta definitely brought one of the most engaging and energised sets to our parties in Dance Tunnel. It was his first time playing in London and I think he managed to outdo everyones expectations. That guy just tore it up.

6. Seven Davis Jr – One

Obviously this was a special moment when SDJr landed in Europe for the first time. He seemed genuinely blown away that the whole crowd knew the words.

7. Ghost – The Club

El – B night was crazy good and had a real authentic feel to it, everybody absolutely digging every tune. Remember going pretty nuts to this.

8. Route 8 – Cruising (Panoram Rework)

I’m sure I remember Jimmy [Asquith] opening up with this when he came down (along with Raw M.T.) for our Lobster-lit party, back in April ’15 – perfectly trippy, Tunnel bound scatterings.